It is well known in the art to wrap compressed bales of crop materials, both “round”and “rectangular”, with twine while still in the baler so as to maintain the shape and integrity of the bale after it is ejected from the baler. Twine is typically dispensed from generally cylindrical twineballs standing on end on horizontal storage shelves on the baler. The balls are usually spliced together so that when one ball is completely depleted, twine automatically starts unwrapping from the next ball without requiring operator intervention. Eventually, all of the balls are used up and the operator must restock the shelves and splice the new supply of balls together in the appropriate manner.
In the present invention a crop baler is provided with twineball storage means that supports the cylindrical twineballs on their sides, with one end facing outwardly away from the baler. Among other things, having the ends of the twineballs face outwardly toward the operator makes it much easier and more convenient as he loads the storage compartment and splices the balls together. Furthermore, having the twineballs face outwardly allows the shelves to be spaced closer together than in the past because the operator no longer needs extra room between the top of the twineballs and the next shelf to splice the twines together. Preferably, the twineballs are supported in an upward and outwardly inclined or tilted up manner to encourage them to stay in place by the force of gravity. This arrangement maximizes the number of twine balls that can be stored within a given amount of space, or, conversely, minimizes the amount of space required for a given number of twine balls. Therefore, the operator has better access to parts of the baler mechanism around and behind the twine storage compartment for servicing and maintaining the baler.
In a preferred embodiment, the twineballs are arranged in horizontal rows and vertical columns, with each row being slightly offset or staggered with respect to the next row above and below. Thus, the upright columns are inclined so as to present an overall pattern that resembles a skewed parallelogram. By having the centers of the twineballs located midway between the centers of twine balls in the next row above or below, the maximum number of balls can be stored in the least available space. In a preferred embodiment, the balls of each row may be supported in a series of individual cradles or troughs formed by pairs of downwardly converging bottom walls that are interconnected with one another to present a single transversely corrugated shelf.